1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a content management apparatus and a content management method for displaying and managing digital content, a program for causing a computer to execute the method, and a storage medium for storing the program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to manage digital content items, existing content management apparatuses classify the digital content items into predetermined areas, attach additional information to the digital content items, and search for a desired content item using the attached additional information.
For example, in widely used content management apparatuses, such as personal computers (PCs), content files are organized and managed using a layer structure called a “folder”. In general, a file is stored in a folder by dragging and dropping a display object representing the file in a display object representing the folder. In addition, by displaying the properties of each of folders and checking a checkbox for attaching a corresponding property, that property can be attached to the folder. Through such an operation, properties, such as “read only”, “hidden folder”, and access right of the folder, can be attached to the folder.
In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-203276 describes the following technique. A user strips off a tag sheet from a tag sheet group and attaches the stripped tag sheet to a desired page of a desired electronic document (a desired content item) by dragging and dropping the tag sheet. In this way, the property for identifying the electronic document can be attached. Furthermore, the user can select one of tag sheet groups and refer to the information regarding the tag sheet group. Thus, the user can search for all of the tag sheets stripped from the tag sheet group.
However, in the above-described existing techniques, the operations for managing content items are performed through different operation methods. Therefore, a user needs to be familiar with a variety of operation methods. Accordingly, in particular, it is difficult and troublesome for beginners who are unfamiliar with PC operations to classify content items in a content management apparatus.